My Jimmy’s birthday was this last week.  He’s old.  But you know I’m a sucker for older folks, and I will make anything he wants.  I really wanted to make him a Chocolate Cream Cake, but we both decided we needed something a little smaller that could be consumed in one sitting, and not linger around temping us for days.  Jimmy loves lemon.   Lemon bars are his favorite, and he loves pudding-y things too.  Lemon Meringue Pie was the answer.  I love this pie as well, but I have yet to master the dang confection.  It always looks beautiful, but it is usually weepy, soggy, and a disappointment for a cooking perfectionist.  I’ve been known to throw a pie against the wall when it didn’t cut correctly.  (True story, and I am not proud of that moment.  Total loss of control.  Can you imagine such a thing?)

A Lemon Meringue Pie was my first attempt at pie making.  I was in 8th grade, and I had just watched Julia Child make a not so pretty pie on PBS, and figured I could do it too.  The pie ended up beautiful!  There wasn’t enough meringue to make a super tall pie, but still it was lovely.  I remember eating it with relish.  I don’t remember if it was soggy or not.  14 year olds really don’t care much.

I want to master this pie!!  I need some serious help here.  How do you keep the pie from getting soggy, and weepy?  All comments and suggestions are welcome.  Please pass along your Lemon Meringue Pie wisdom.  Someone out there must have this pie down to an art-  love me, and help me here:)  I’ve got the crust, the lemon curd, all down and maybe I should just be happy with that.  Maybe we’ll just start topping our Lemon Meringue Pie with billows of whipped cream———now that just might be an excellent answer!